May this Wonderful World be Blessed with a Legendary Hero!
by slapsroofoffanfiction
Summary: Link is transported to the Wonderful World under mysterious circumstances after a meeting with Eris, who foreshadows imminent danger. Will like be able to return to Hyrule? Will he want to after his Life-changing experiences?
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: Consider this story different from the original, because it will be very much so. It will be the same premise, but a different (greatly improved) story. Enjoy!

**Part 1 (Link)**

"Link! It doesn't matter! Please, let's just escape!"

I looked over my shoulder. The princess was on the floor, crying. She was evidently scared, as I was. With failure looking as imminent as it did, there was no person in this world that wouldn't be.

Ignoring a sharp pain that resulted of it, I brought my hand up to my face again, wiping away the blood that I had found constantly dripping into my eyes since the fight took a turn for the worse.

Looking back at my enemy, I readied my sword in a defensive stance as I analyzed the situation.

Princess Zelda, perhaps noticing that I was thinking, gave a break in her pleas.

I had already admitted that this battle would not be successful. Mipha had been killed, so a full heal was impossible. Ganon would finish me off with his next attack. In every way, I was cornered. My priority was the Princess' Safety, then my own. The obvious option as I had a great disadvantage, was to incorporate some sort of diversionary tactic into my plan.

A great ball of energy began manifesting in front of the Calamity Ganon's spider-like body.

I dove backwards, rolling on my shoulder, and come to a stop right in front of Zelda's weakened body as Ganon's attack finished its preparation, and a laser fired.

Swinging my sword at it, I succeeded in deflecting it into the ground in front of us. It created such a din that my ears began ringing, and I couldn't hear Zelda's yelp. A cloud of dust was kicked up.

I grabbed Princess Zelda's arm, and forced her to her feet.

Sheathing my Sword, I began running. I picked up a shield that I had previously discarded for mobility, and slung it over my back, along with the sword.

"Thank you Link… Thank you." Zelda muttered from behind me, still with tears leaking from her eyes.

I nodded in acknowledgement.

We ran through the open front door to the castle, and continued over the bridge. I lost Zelda's presence. I looked back, and I saw she had frozen at the sight that greeted us on the other side of the door.

Row upon row of guardians were poised before us. Their once-blue lights had turned partially purple, showing their new affiliation with the calamity ganon. There were thousands.

"Come on!" I shouted at her, waving one arm.

She hesitated for a second before following me.

"L-Link… not even you can do this."

I looked at her in the face. She had well and truly broken. She had no serious wound on her, but the gravity of the situation was no doubt very apparent to her.

"I have to." I told her. "Don't fall behind. If you get the chance, run ahead to Fort Hateno."

Still terrified, she nodded.

I charged. Running down the stairs, I didn't bother to keep my steps light, because my goal was to attract their attention.

I drew my Sword, which now glowed softly blue, and began yelling.

The Guardians began noticing me.

The lights around their body began to glow brighter, and about six targeting lasers found my body.

And the number was still increasing.

"Keep up!" I yelled to Zelda.

I directly entered the mass of enemies, taking advantage of the guardian's flaw. Their Lasers were very powerful, but they required about five seconds of direct line of sight to the target before they could fire. If their line was broken, the countdown would begin again.

Guardians were not difficult to escape from when there was lots of cover, or in this case, other guardians, to hide behind. Zelda finally caught up.

"We will escape." I told her. "We'll make it to fort Hateno, and get help from the guards there."

She nodded furiously, despite knowing we had to make it several kilometres.

I made sure to hide my true intention from her, however. Little did she know, everybody but us and the champions had been evacuated to Kakariko and Hateno village. I would stand at the Iron walls of Fort Hateno, and make my final stand while she escaped.

Eventually, we came to a river after running east for a few minutes. I had managed to kill countless guardians on the way, but for each one that I took down, ten more seemingly took their place.

We would never have made it to the Fort had the following idea not occurred to me.

I held out my shield, and took a guardian Laser head on.

And I feinted.

I pretended to stumble from the impact, and fell off the cliff behind me.

I pulled Zelda with me.

As we fell, I clasped my hand around her mouth.

After a second, we hit the water, and began sinking. On top of this, Zelda stopped struggling, meaning that she had understood my intention.

Still underwater, we began swimming with the current of the river, holding our breath for as long as we could.

To Zelda's credit, she managed to last about thirty seconds. I could have gone on for longer, but decided to surface alongside her.

Looking around as we surfaced, I found that we had not been pursued.

We let the river carry us for another couple of minutes, before we swam to the east shore.

As we pulled ourselves onto land, I noted that Zelda was shivering. I had no spare clothes to give her though, so I said nothing.

We made our way to a large ravine-like valley, with a large fortified wall. When we approached the entrance I stopped her.

I grabbed her shoulders and looked her directly in the face.

"Zelda. Run east. Continue running until you reach kakariko village, and ask Impa for shelter. Don't look back."

She suddenly looked fearful.

"Link, you're not going to…" 

"Just go Princess!"

She resigned herself, and nodded. She turned and ran.

My urgency may have seen somewhat unprecedented, but I had noticed a guardian turret the she had not.

It had spotted us, and that would mean that the Guardian Army was on its way. I climbed Hateno's wall, and sat down.

I would not get much time to meditate, however, because the warning beeping of an incoming Guardian was soon audible, and it would not be long before it arrived.

I stood up again, sighing.

I also prayed in the few seconds that I had left.

I prayed to the goddess Farore, the Golden woman said to watch over the era's chosen hero.

I drew my sword again. It may have just been my imagination, but it seemed that it's blade glowed a little brighter than normal.

I red laser suddenly trained on my body. My eyes followed it to its source, and I saw a single guardian approaching. However, over the night horizon, a purple glow was growing brighter, until eventually there were hundreds pouring over.

The Lazer fired, and with no regard for my personal health, I held out the Master Sword and blocked it.

I then planted it in the ground, and if signifying the location of my Last stand.

My eye was clouding over with blood again, despite the river washing the worst of it away, but I ignored it.

The Guardians were getting closer, and several of them had begun training their Lasers on me. I pointed my sword at the sky, and it began gathering energy. I slashed it downwards, and a beam of light erupted from the end. It cut away a swathe of enemies with ease. Those that I had not taken out fired at me.

Just before they hit me I jumped backwards taking out my bow, I fired a shot at the incoming Lasers, and detonated one of them. The rest went off in a chain reaction, creating a massive ball of fire and smoke right in front of me, and tearing a hole into the fortified wall. The shockwave would have knocked me out, had I not been ready with my shield.

Nevertheless, it sent me flying into the air. I took this chance to take out my bow again. From the quiver on my back, I fumbled for the special arrow type that was marked by a different knock. Still falling, I drew the bow back, loading three sheikah arrows at once.

Seemingly knowing that their purpose had arrived, the bulky head unfolded, revealing a 2-dimensional blue blade, which sparked with heat. I looked down the shaft of the middle one, and let them fly.

They darted through the air with insane speed, and each one struck a different guardian in the eye. A rift appeared at the location of each's impact, not unlike a vortex. Then they disappeared, along with the eye of each guardian.

They self-destructed as a normal protocol, and nearby enemies scrambled to get away, but they were so densely packed that many were unsuccessful, and were also destroyed, initiating their self-destruct sequence.

This resulted in a chain reaction that left tens of enemies annihilated.

I quickly took out my paraglider before hitting the ground to absorb some of the impact, but my legs were still in pain after slamming into the fort's wall again.

There were few guardians left in my immediate presence, but I could see the glow on the horizon of more approaching.

I had used the last of my Ancient Arrows, and the Master Swords glow had been dampening since it's recent attack. I had delayed the enemy as much as I could, but however little difference it would make, I had to continue.

I held the Master Sword up again, and it glowed brighter for a second, but it returned to its sorry feeble state quickly, before sputtering out completely.

Looking it the blade, it was clear to see that it had been pushed past it's limits. It appeared to be decaying in some places, and there were chips along the once perfect blade. The metal was a dull grey, completely contrasting what it looked like before.

Seeing the God Sword out of energy, I fell to my knees, finally feeling the effects of my exhaustion.

I tried to force myself to my feet, but my legs had no strength in them.

I could see the single laser trained on me, but could do nothing about it.

It approached, somehow as if in slow motion, despite its realistic speed being that of light itself.

It slammed into me, and what I felt was far from the horrible sensation of my skin melting that I had expected.

Rather, I felt satisfied. Perhaps because my final action had been to complete my most important mission, perhaps simply because my responsibilities were finally over.

I was blown backwards off the wall into the grounds of Fort Hateno, though I felt no impact.

It is strange how calm one feels when he is on the verge of death. Perhaps the only reason man fears death is because he is still alive. When he is so close to the end itself, he realises that it was in fact living that had been troubling him.

I felt no impact.

My last thought as I left the world was one of fulfillment.

**Part 2 (Link)**

"Link, It is my regret to inform you that you have died."

I was instantly conscious again. My face might have betrayed my surprise at this fact, because the girl opposite me spoke again.

"Whatever might be the matter?"

She had very white hair, which was unable to be told whether it was short or long, because it was loosely covered with what might have been a religious obligation. Her eyes were a dark lilac, almost purple, and most of her clothing was a dark blue.

"Nothing." I told her, though it was a lie.

I simply didn't believe in an afterlife. There were a few small cults in hyrule that preached that there was a heaven and hell, with one almighty being, but there was too much proof against it. There was a common consensus that people returned to their spirit form upon death, and wandered Hyrule, unable to interfere, for the rest of time.

"Well then…" She cleared her throat. "You are dead, but you have a bit of a special circumstance… I need to have you reincarnate into another world."

This was not what I expected.

"Come again?" I asked her.

She shook her head, a little flustered.

"I apologise… There are… complications… with your death. There is another world, similar to your own, that is in danger from a demon threat. There is, of course, more to it, but there is not much that I can tell you. Your reincarnation is simply a precaution to fortify for a worst-case scenario."

"I'm sorry, but you are going to have to tell me more if you want me to help… I cannot do anything about something I know nothing about."

I examined my surroundings as I spoke, though there was very little to examine. I was in a dark room, sitting on a chair that seemed to be floating in nothingness. The only things in sight were me and this person before me, who I assumed to be a goddess of some sort.

"I see… um… there's a chance that something occurred, several thousand years ago. Something that linked your world and the other. Though what the rumour is exactly, I cannot tell you. If it did, it is likely that you are the only one that can save the other world."

"And what about my own?" I asked.

"It is strictly forbidden to be reborn in the world you come from, unless you're willing to abandon your past self and become someone new. However, if you help, you will be allowed to return to your original world, and complete whatever business you may have left unfinished."

It was by no means an unreasonable proposition to make, and I was tempted to accept. It seemed the only way that I was able to return. I was suddenly feeling a certain need to return, despite my previous sense of fulfillment.

"What is the state of the country that I will enter." 

Eris seemed surprised.

"They are technically at war against a demon king, but there is barely any effect from that that you will feel unless you go looking for it." She said.

I thought about it.

"All right then, I'll go."

She smiled. "Great! I'll contact you if the situation advances. Oh, I forgot to say. There are several reincarnates from other worlds, but yours is a special case, because of the added circumstance. On top of this, you get to have one item or ability of when you incarnate."

"Anything?" I asked.

"Within boundaries, but yes."

"All right then. I want my sword fully restored and sent in with me."

Her smile faltered. "That one there on your back? Alas, the thing you ask of me is something I cannot do." 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That Sword's power dwarfs my own. I cannot fully restore it. However, I can accelerate the speed of it's regeneration if you wish it."

I sighed. "I'll have to settle for that."

"Of course. It is done. See you later!"

And suddenly she, along with the chairs, disappeared.

**Part 3 (Link)**

It took me a while to realise that the blackness was a result of my eyes being closed, but even before I opened them, I knew that my surroundings had changed. There was a slight breeze about me, and I could hear the clatter of horse hooves upon stone. Opening my eyes, I found myself to be standing in what appeared to be a high-street market.

There were several traveling merchants standing by their carts, selling everything from food to furs to tools.

Out of interest, I walked over to someone who appeared to be selling martial weapons. He smiled a trader's smile at me.

"Feel free to have a look! I see your sword is a bit worn down, perhaps you would like a replacement?" He asked, offering me one.

"Ah, but I am without money! Perhaps, however, you could tell me where I could get some? I will come directly to you when I do, and buy one of your quality bows!" I told him.

A merchant's first instinct was to sell as much as he could, for as much as he could. By appealing to that side of the man, I could easily get the information I wanted. Normally, he would have chased me away had I admitted to being poor, but by giving him a profit out of it, he would have no reason to say no.

"Ah, I see, new around here, are we?" He smiled another trader's smile. "I would recommend registering yourself with the guild. You obviously look like you have been in a fight a fight or two, you would do well!"

As I expected. At the prospect of a sale, he retained his manners and friendly tone.

"What exactly is this guild?" I asked him.

He laughed. "I know you are new around here, but not knowing what an adventurer's guild is! Not to worry… erm…" He looked at me.

"Link." I told him.

"Not to worry Link! I'll explain. The Guild is a government-run organization who has a base in this town. People who want jobs done place a request on the bulletin, and adventurers who are willing to complete the task sign up to do them. They are paid through the guild. It's at the end of the highstreet."

"This does seem like a good opportunity…" I thought aloud.

"Indeed!" The merchant affirmed. "Anybody can do it as long as they have brawn or a brain. From the looks of you, you have a little of both."

I made a decision. "Alright then, see you later… what's your name again?" I asked.

"I'm Finn!"

"See you later Finn. I look forward to doing business with you."

"You too!" Finn said.

The right words can make all of the difference in a negotiation.

This was what I was thinking as I made my way up the highstreet to the large building at the end.

After climbing up a short set of stairs, I pushed the doors open. I entered what seemed to be a bar. A waiter welcomed me happily.

"Hello sir! I haven't seen you around before, are you here to register?"

I nodded.

"Great! Please talk to Luna at the desk over there!"

She indicated an alcove on the far wall, where there was a long line of people.

I sighed and walked over.

The line was dispatched of surprisingly fast however, and I found myself speaking to a receptionist-like figure promptly.

"Hello sir! Are you here to register?" She asked.

"Yes please. Is there an entry fee?"

"2000 eris." She told me.

"I'll be right back." I responded.

I turned round. "Can anybody lend me 2000 eris?" I yelled in the direction of the bar.

"I'll pay you back in triple!" I shouted when I received no answer.

This time, somebody approached.

He had short brown hair and green eyes. He looked very worn down considering his age of about sixteen.

"Can you pay me back within the week?" He asked.

For this, I could have no certain answer, but I could make a guess. The traveling merchant that was confident in my success would probably leave within the week, so my answer was likely yes.

"I believe so. If I can't, I'll allow you to charge interest at 10 percent per day."

"Make it 15 percent." His face remained stoick.

"All right then." I said.

"Great. My name is Kazuma. I am here most mornings and evenings."

Kazuma handed me some money.

"I'm Link. Let's get along."

Kazuma smiled for the first time.

"Sure." he said.

I turned back to the receptionist, Luna.

"Here you go."

She smiled again. "Great. Please place your hand on this crystal."

She slid a blue object, which looked similar to a pearl across the desk. As I placed my right hand above it, it lit up.

Out slid a small sheet of card, which Luna took and looked at. Upon reading whatever was written on it, her eyes widened a little, but she did quite a good job of hiding her surprise.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing! Nothing… It's just that your statistics are quite high."

"Ah, so that card shows a summary of my physical and mental health?"

It was a reasonable assumption to make, after all.

"Precisely! I can see from this that while your luck and mana capacity are a little below average, your intelligence, charisma, and dexterity are all far above."

"Excuse me for asking, but why is that important?"

Luna smile again. "Not at all! Your statistics are very important for deciding what class of adventurer that you want to be. May I ask about your fighting style?" 

I thought about it a little. "I use a double-bladed, one-handed broadsword. Sometimes I use a shield in the other hand. I prefer mobility over durability, so chainmail is generally the heaviest armour I use. Oh, and I also use a bow often."

Luna also seemed to be thinking.

"Well, you are quite varied, so I would recommend choosing an advanced fighter-type class, then cross-leveling to other nearby classes if need be… Here," she said, as she wrote something down, "Is a list of the classes that I would recommend."

"All right then…" I said slowly, reading the list. "Then, I guess Master Swordsman seems like it fits best."

Luna clapped her hands once. "All right then," she said "You know best!"

She wrote something down on the card.

"Link, you need to keep this on you at all times. Consider it something of a licence."

She handed me the card. At the top, it was labeled: Link - Master Swordsman (1).

"Thank you very much."

"Also, you can have the swordsman starter pack for 500 extra Eris, if you wish."

I looked around me for Kazuma, but it seemed that he had been watching the whole time.

He tossed me some more money.

"Make the interest 20 percent." He told me.

I nodded, making a mental not to miss the date, as it was getting pricey.

Luna handed me a Broadsword and a round shield.

Examining them, they seemed to be of poor quality, but they would have to do until the master sword repaired itself.

"Thanks, Kazuma, I owe you one." I said as I turned around, slinging my new gear over my back.

He was there, but he was smiling a mischievous smile, and I couldn't help feeling that I was being made sport of somehow. He produced a deck of playing cards from his pocket.

"What do you say that we have a little gamble?"

Authors Note: How is that for a first chapter? Pretty generic, right? Don't worry. Give it a few chapters, I am throwing canon out of the window for this one. Anyway, I'm done now, see you next time!


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: WARNING, this chapter contains an attempt at something I have never done before. Wanting to do this is probably a result of the list of recent books/manga I have read recently, which include but are not limited to: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai, Liar Game, Spice and Wolf… to be honest, the list goes on. If you have an idea of what I might do, congrats! If not, read on to find out… I apologise in advance if it is bad… I probably won't write another chapter like this anyway, so feel free to skim read this and wait for the next chapter.

* * *

**Part 1 (Link)**

"_What do you say we have a little gamble?"_

As I slipped my new sword under the belt on my back, Kazuma said this in such a way that I couldn't help but feel that I was being made sport of somehow.

"You know I don't have any money." I told him.

He continued smiling.

"Of course. I'm giving you the chance to win back your debt to me."

Saying that I was in debt was no lie. Not seconds before, I had borrowed 2500 eris from him, to buy my adventurer's card, and a starter pack for my class. To begin from a clean slate would be a blessing. On the other hand, the one who had proposed the game was Kazuma, and I didn't know how trustworthy the people were in this world. There was a good chance that he had a plan to rob me of more money.

"Sure, I'll play." I told him, eyeing the pack of cards in his hand.

I decided that whatever his plan was, I would try to figure it out and try to come out ahead. If I couldn't figure it out, I would simply leave the game before my lossees became too heavy.

"Great." He said, turning his back and gesturing for me to follow.

We came to a table, where one other person was sitting.

"Yo, Dust." Kazuma said, raising a hand in greeting. "I found someone to play."

Dust had shaggy white-blond hair, and wore simple green adventuring clothes. He also seemed to be a similar age to me and Kazuma; perhaps seventeen,

"Nice!" Dust said, then turned his head to me. "Get ready to be robbed!"

I grinned at his teasing expression. "Don't let your guard down yourself." I told him.

"Well then, let's begin." Kazuma told us both, slamming the cards down on the table.

I sat down opposite Dust, while Kazuma remained standing at the head of the table. "So," He said "Rules."

We both looked at him as he began separating the deck.

"We will be playing 17 card Old Maid. Are you both familiar with it?"

Dust nodded, but I had never even heard of it, so I shook my head.

Kazuma nodded in recognition, and began explaining.

"I will make a deck consisting solely of all of the Aces, Jacks, Queens and Kings, then add a single joker."

He said this as he did just that, and then handed the deck to me to inspect. As he said, there were four each of Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks., then one joker, for a total of 17 cards. I handed the deck back to him.

"I will then split this deck into two sets of 8 cards, which leaves one." He revealed the remaining card, showing an ace of spades, which he moved to the centre of the table. He then prompted Dust and I take each set of eight cards.

"This is a game of deception. You have to make pairs with the cards that you have. Each turn, you may take 1 card from your opponent, thus circulating them. The pairing system is simple. Every card may only pair with another card that shares the same type and colour as itself. For instance…" He trailed off. "Which of you has another black ace?"

I looked down at my hand, but there was no black ace to be seen, however, Dust across from me raised his hand.

"So, you have made the first pair, as there is already a black ace revealed on the table. Please put it with that one."

He did.

"Each pair is worth 100 Eris. Also, the joker cannot be combined with anything. Whoever has no cards first left wins all of the money in the centre. On top of that, I will put 1000 of my own money in the centre. If neither of you succeed in getting rid of your cards in 4 turns, I, the dealer, will take the money in the centre."

He looked at us both critically as if affirming that we had understood.

"Alright then, Link, you go first."

I looked at my hand. I had 8 cards. While none of them was the joker, I has only a single pair of cards. Wordlessly, I laid down two Black Queens in the centre of the table, bringing the pool up to 1200 eris; two pairs, plus Kazuma's money.

"You get to take a card from Dust now."

I reached over the table and took one. Dust's face betrayed nothing as I pulled a card at random out of his fanned hand. I drew it over table and turned it around.

I cursed silently; the Joker. It could not be paired with anything, so it was impossible for me to win if I had it. It was bad luck; there were 7 cards in Dust's hand, and only one of them had been the joker.

"Dust's turn." Kazuma intoned.

Dust smiled as he took a card, not the joker, and made a pair with it.

Seeing as there were only two people playing, it made it so that if you didn't take the joker, then you made a pair. It was one or the other.

I had to either leave or make Dust take my card.

"!" I hid my surprise the best I could when I came to a certain realisation.

"Kazuma." I spoke for the first time since we began the game.

"Yes?"

"May we please add some more cards? Ones without a pair."

Kazuma smiled. "Whyever would that be?" He asked.

"You take the money in the centre if we fail to get rid of our hand in 4 turns, correct?"

"Yes." He said.

"Unless one of us Luck out with at least two pairs from the beginning, it is impossible to complete our hand in five turns, because with sixteen viable cards, there are only eight pairs, which means both players have to complete 4 pairs to win. One of us would have to make a pair every turn to do that. At the beginning, that is very likely, but as the number of cards are reduced, the joker will always remain, resulting in a much higher chance to draw it. If somebody who started with the joker gets it taken from him, then you, the dealer, are guaranteed to win. There are simply not enough turns in the game to be successful without insane luck as a player."

Kazuma smiled. "It seems that you have caught me out." He said slyly. "Though, I have lost interest in this game. Let us bet on something else."

I would have declined, but this man had begun to annoy me. I felt an undying urge to beat him. I watched him as he whispered something is Dust's ear.

"Alright then."

Kazuma shuffled the cards, then dealt us both four cards each. The others went in the centre.

"We will play 17-card poker. The minimum bet will be 100 eris. There is a catch though. We may bet on anything that we want, not just that our cards are better. For instance, Link," He looked at me "You may bet your opponent that he has the queen of spades for instance."

We both nodded.

"Once again, I will be the dealer. I have to match the money that you pool."

This seemed much less, well, rigged. I could prevent Kazuma from gaining any money simply by choosing a question that has two answers. In fact, it seemed very difficult for him to gain any profit at all. I had to proceed with caution.

"All right." I told him as he handed me five cards.

I had nothing good in my hand, aside from the joker.

I considered the situation. There were only seventeen cards in the deck, and between me and my opponent, we knew 10 of them; five cards each.

"Link, you go first." Kazuma said.

"All right. I bet 200 Eris that dust doesn't have the joker." I said.

"Ok then." Dust told me. "I also bet that I don't have the joker, but I raise you to 1000 Eris."

I sighed. To test the waters, I had bet low, but the prices got high quite fast. However, if I folded now, I would sink into debt by another 200 pieces.

From another angle, now Kazuma was guaranteed to lose, because Dust couldn't have the joker; I did. I was also guaranteed to profit by 500 eris, because I had the joker.

"Are you ready to show your cards?" Kazuma asked.

We nodded, then revealed them at the same time.

There were several cards mixed in to both of our hands, but none of them were relevant, because both Dust and I had won our bets.

We split the money in the pool. I took my own back, plus half of Kazuma's.

He dealt us another hand. I looked at my hand. I had an array of cards, and this time, they didn't include the joker. Considering that between Dust and I, we had taken the majority of cards from the deck, he likely had the joker, which in turn meant that his had was likely stronger than mine.

"Dust, it's your turn to set the bet."

"Alright… I'll bet that my hand is more powerful than Link's..." He said, also intonating his insertion of 500 eris into the pool.

As I thought he had the joker, but there was always a chance he was trying to trick me…

"How many cards do you want traded?"

"Five." I said before dust could respond to Kazuma's question.

"Sure." He said.

I gave my hand to him, and he completely switched it with another one.

I looked at the cards in my hand.

As I had thought, there was no joker there. Now the chances were miniscule that the joker was one of the two remaining cards that neither Dust nor I had seen.

"I would like two cards." Dust said, and he switched his cards with Kazuma.

He took the two remaining cards, and now he was guaranteed to have the joker, unless it was one of the two that he threw away.

"Show your cards."

Both mine and Dust's bets were correct once again, and it was as we were collecting our money that something struck me.

He had been trying to swindle Dust and I before, but I had seen through that. There was a chance that this new game was meant to do the same. He had whispered something in Dust's ear earlier. That had been quite suspicious, to say the least. What if they had a plan for dust to split his winnings between the two of them? I would be indebted to both of them in that case. If I were to lose a bet, I would lose however much I bet, but they would _gain _an amount equal to half of what I bet.

This was more complicated, but the same premise as normal poker…

"Show your hands." Kazuma said.

I had not been paying attention. I had just lost 500 without realising. That brought me back down to 1500, raising their winnings by 250 eris each, if my theory was correct.

Despite this however, being normal poker, I had a plan that relied on the theory that Kazuma and Dust were scheming something together.

I decided to take the chance.

* * *

**Part 2: (Link)**

"H-how?" Kazuma asked. "Normally I have good luck with these things. How did you find out our plan?"

I shrugged. "I guessed."

This only put him in a worse mood.

"I do believe however, that I am relieved of debt." I told him.

"Yeah.." He trailed off. "I guess you are."

After playing a couple more rounds, I had found a solution. Simply by conforming with Dut's bets, I could guarantee Kazuma's loss, and from his loss, half of that money would go to me. Kazuma's gain relied on either neither of our bets being right, or Dust winning a bet.

During the game, I continually verified that Duts bets were true (by trading all 5 of my cards each time), and always bet the same thing that he did. This way, Kazuma could not win. I would profit every single round.

"I also believe," I told him "That you owe me...1000 eris."

He looked up at me.

"Yeah, okay." He handed the money over.

I yelled to one of the waitresses.

"Could I get a beer for this man here? Put it on my tab!"

She nodded in recognition.

"Hey." Kazuma addressed me, regaining a little of his confidence.

"Hm?" I asked him.

"How would like to join my party? You are smart, and we are needing a reliable close-range fighter. Considering that you have a melee-based advanced class, you would be perfect."

I looked at him critically.

"Absolutely not." I told him flatly, shooting down his dignity in one go.

"Ah."

He made this pitiful sound as I turned from my heel and left the guild.

* * *

Authors note: Sorry this chapter took so long to come out, and please forgive me for it being sub-par, I have never written something like this. I hope you found it interesting anyway though. If you didn't, don't worry, because it will probably be the last time I write something like this anyway. See you next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: So much has happened to me in these past few weeks, and I wont bother to explain, but I would like to say sorry for taking so long with getting this chapter out. So anyway, I hope you enjoy! Tell me what you think by reviewing!

* * *

**Part 1:**

I was absent mindedly scratching my fingertip against the table as I watched Megumin animatedly describe an elaborate plan to Kazuma and I.

"Then, after using aqua to Lure them there…." She paused dramatically, standing up with one leg on the table, despite the fact that both Kazuma and I knew more or less what was to follow.

"I can explode them!"

She was a very small girl with short black hair, and unusually red eyes, who looked very much like a child to me. I, too, was young for my job, but it seemed wrong to me when Kazuma first introduced her as the mage of his party.

Speaking of introductions, the energetic pose Megumin was now striking reminded me of that very preface she first presented to me, which occurred at this very table, or one quite near.

I had been having my evening meal when Kazuma tried to show off his two advanced class party members to me, but Megumin had jumped on my table before he could and, in a voice loud enough to turn heads, announced that she would one day explode the entire city like the evil god she was.

"What do you mean by that!? Being all like 'I can explode them!'? Would you care to remember the last time we tried a plan that sounded so horrifyingly like this? You Incinerated all of the drops! Those poor pixies were causing some trouble, but you didn't have to blow up a whole forest just because we couldn't find where in it they were!"

Sometime during his rant, Kazuma had edged up on Megumin, and now, both standing on the table, had the full attention of the bar. I looked around boredly at these annoyingly incapable adventurers, who were looking on Kazuma and Megumin's verbal brawl with such interest.

I use the words 'Annoyingly incapable' because I can't call them useless. Why? Because I was here, drinking some apple juice in a bar, watching a couple of friends arguing. Not because I had nothing better to do, but because I didn't feel so much like getting up. I would be quite a hypocrite if I had used 'Useless.'

After a minute or two, both Kazuma and his mage calmed down.

"Why did I ever let you into my party?"

Kazuma said this as he slumped back into his seat.

Megumin was already back to eating her breakfast. She responded through a mouthful of breaded toad.

"Because I forced you to, after pretending you used the toad slime to sexually harass me."

She didn't even look up from her plate.

"Ah yes, now I remember." Kazuma said through gritted teeth.

This piqued my interest a little, and jogged my memory, and I realised something odd about a previous encounter with Kazuma.

"You came to me first to show off your new party members."

I said this, sipping my juice.

"Yeah, and?" he asked.

"You must have already known of Megumin's, er," My speech tripped for a moment as I searched for the word "...eccentricities."

Megumin didn't look up, meaning I didn't trip any wire, but Kazuma's expression changed from one of scorn to embarrassment, meaning that I had gotten my point across.

"So you came to show off, despite knowing that you would be, well, completely lying about your boasting?"

He didn't respond, so I didn't pursue the subject any further.

A loud cough from the end of the room lifted my gaze from the table.

The cough belonged to a man in plate armor. He had short black hair, and quite muscular arms, which were holding out a piece of parchment.

"Ahem."

He coughed again, despite already having the room's full attention.

"I come on behalf of King Blazing Sword Belzerg, who has issued a summons for all willing adventurers."

Anybody who wasn't paying attention before was now. There was never much mention of the king here in Axel, considering how far it was from the capital.

"Some trials are to be run on all willing adventurers, and those the judges deem worthy will be granted an honorary position as his Highness's Guard during the coming festival. The job will last roughly a week, and it's pay is about twenty million Eris."

A few people around the room began cheering.

"Per day." The man continued.

"Any who would like to participate in the trials, please follow me out of the guild."

This surprised me.

"They are happening right away?" I asked Kazuma.

He was already walking away.

"Apparently." He said. "You coming?"

I thought about it a bit, but I had more or less decided to go before the man had even finished. I thought it should be about time to expand my horizons; all of the quests on the guild board had seemed a bit tame.

I downed the last of my juice and got up, stretching.

It seemed to me as if I had gotten rather lazy since leaving Hyrule. Of course, the feeling could be a perfectly normal symptom of one's once eventful life suddenly becoming bland.

The thought made me want to get involved in some large-scale war meeting, or plot to topple the hierarchy.

For some reason.

I covered my eyes as I left the guild along with the rest of the adventurers, shielding them from the sun.

I turned my attention to the head of the group: the knight from before, who had stopped.

The man grinned, though it was not a friendly smile.

It is said that through one's eyes alone, another can judge almost ten percent of their character. Much like any skill, judging people by their eyes alone can take a long time to master.

I was no professional, but I recognised the look in this man's eyes.

It wasn't an evil smile, but it wasn't far from it.

"Your trial begins now. Be one of the first to make it to the dustiness estate in 15 minutes or less. It is about 5 miles north from here. Go."

I recognised his look of arrogance, so I was ready.

* * *

**Part 2:**

I broke into a run before the man had finished, so I passed him as soon as he indicated for us to begin. I could hear the protest and yelps of surprise behind me as those who were unsuspecting were left behind.

A quick glance revealed me to be one of about 7 that must have predicted what was coming.

I didn't know what my hopes were, but it seemed that the trials were going to be more of a challenge than I had first thought.

Which, of course, was a good thing, because the promise of adventure.

I had only really decided to go along with these trials because of some need to deviate from the bore that had become my everyday life.

Indeed, I had been looking for action, but that didn't make me any happier when I spotted one of the other runners preparing to fire an arrow at me.

I easily dodged it, as the arrow had been traveling slowly, probably not having been intended to do any real damage, just to slow me down.

If that was the case, then my aggressor had succeeded in his attempt; I was now several metres behind the leaders. Especially seeing as stamina was never my strong point, things were not looking great.

My left hand brushed by my waist, subconsciously searching for a useful device that was no longer there.

As I ran, I made a mental list of all the items I had at my disposal currently.

My knife could be thrown in a last-case scenario, but I wouldn't have time to retrieve it, and there were few ways I could use it. I had the unuseable Master Sword and the half-broken standard-issue blade that I had bought on my first day as an adventurer. In terms of melee weapons alone I was not doing well, let alone ranged.

Other various items that I had on me included some rope, an empty waist quiver, and a hair band.

I could see no immediate way to gain ground on the other competitors, and I was falling quite far behind at this point; several others from the other group had overtaken me.

I didn't know the local terrain well enough to use it to any sort of advantages, and having been taken off-guard with this challenge, I was short handed on resources.

I decided to stop overthinking it. For me, this trial was testing my stamina alone, not my resourcefulness.

Ten minutes later, I became the last one to be accepted into the Dustiness estate.

* * *

**Part 3:**

"And so, here you all are, you worthless neophytes."

Apparently, the Knight who was sent to oversee the trials collapsed. And the rather cold person that we had met earlier had apparently been replaced with a former military boot camp instructor.

You would think that this person would be somewhat intimidating, but despite his choice of words, this man had to look up at me to speak.

"Some of you got here on a fluke." He said, moving along the line and spitting up in Kazuma's face.

And Kazuma is barely six feet tall.

I say that I was the last to arrive, but Kazuma had come stumbling, half-dead from exhaustion through the gate as the maids closed it, apparently having discarded his shirt earlier in the competition.

We were now all lined up in a courtyard of sorts, being insulted by someone who could only be called a dwarf.

"You are all adventurer wannabees from the starter town! Just because you can run a little faster than your sad friends, you think you are worthy to even stand among the capital's commoners?" The midget yelled, returning to his position next to his comparably giant bodyguards.

He suddenly pointed to a small building a few metres behind him. It could barely classify as a shed.

"The next trial begins in there." He grunted.

A conflicted expression crossed his face.

"And, to my distaste, I am required by federal law to tell you that you may not survive this trial." The supervisor finally told us. "By continuing, you take responsibility for this. If any of you are cowards, leave now."

I looked over my shoulder at Kazuma, who gulped a little, but didn't take a step toward the exit gate.

A few seconds of silence passed, but nobody ran.

"All right then, even if you come from a city of scum, at least you all have balls." The instructor said with minor approval."

He gestured for us to follow him, and he began trotting toward the door of the shed-building.

I was in the thick of the group, and took the time to survey the others that had succeeded the first challenge.

It seemed that most of them were mages, likely thanks to the various speed buffs they had access to. In fact, it seemed that there were only three Fighter-types, including Kazuma and I.

Inside the shed-building, it was to nobody's surprise that within, there was a staircase leading underground.

At the bottom of the staircase was adoor.

"All right." The instructor said. "Behind this door is a one-shot bear."

Nobody spoke out, so I had to assume it was no major surprise. Considering how little the other adventurers looked worried, I could assume it was no major threat.

But the way the instructor had told us the name of the monster led me to believe that he thought the opposite.

"There are various equipment benches along the walls of this room. Feel free to use any of it. I will observe each of your abilities, and I will choose one person to proceed." He continued.

It was this statement that made some begin muttering in surprise.

"Go."

He opened the doors, and we all ran in.

Kazuma, who was still beside me, could be heard muttering something along the lines of:

"What is it with these dumbass Capital Knights and their dumbass need to be dramatic?"

On some level, I agreed silently.

On another level, I exclaimed my astonishment wordlessly as I faced the monster in front of me.

It was a bear.

A surprisingly normal one. To be brutally honest, it was only just noticeably bigger than the ones you found in Hyrule.

I looked around the room and noticed the weapon racks that had been mentioned earlier.

I ran up to particular one and swiped a bow, along with a handful of arrows to fill me previously-empty quiver.

Loading a single arrow as I turned around, I took a quick aim and let it fly. A snapping noise and a thud showed me that I had hit the bear. On closer inspection, I found that I had struck it in the muscle of its shoulder.

From the way that it had reared however, I saw that it had not been a deep strike. My shot had merely angered it.

On top of this, the other adventurers finally sprang into action after seeing me attack.

I observed for a second, and saw the bear taking aim, and swiping an arm at an adventurer in plate armour.

The man went flying into the far wall of the room, and slammed hard into it, cracking it a little.

As he fell to the ground, it was plain to see that his chestplate had also cracked, likely along with a few ribs.

I grabbed a shield from another nearby weapon rack upon seeing this, thinking that I would need some extra defence. Several other adventurers with a free hand followed suit.

I slipped my sword out of its sheath, and held it behind my back, ready to charge. The shield naturally came up to defend my chest.

I ran at the bear, yelling to get it's attention. It turned to me and roared back. Getting down on four legs, it began to charge at me in return.

Just before we collided, I threw my sword and shield away, and quickly replaced it with the bow I had stored around my shoulder earlier.

Diving out of the one-shot bear's path, I fired two arrows in quick succession.

I rolled at I hit the ground, and, having discarded my melee weapons, brought up the bow on one knee with another arrow knocked.

The bear had not anticipated my sudden movement, and skidded to a stop, roaring in pain.

Both of my arrows had found their mark, and eliminated the monster's eyes as a factor.

Still crouching, the muscles in my right arm tensed as I drew back the bowstring again, to deal the final blow to the bear's neck, but a hand was held out in front of me, causing me to relax the string automatically.

"I'll take it from here." A voice said.

The person in front of me ran at the monster with a greatsword in had.

Taking in his appearance as he ran, I noticed his blond hair, and his full body was clad in blue plate armour.

His sword began glowing, and was swiped at the blid bear, killing it instantly in a spectacular show of light.

He turned around, and smiled in a way that was obviously intended to be kind, but still annoyed me slightly.

"Mitsurugi Kyouya." He said still smiling. "Nice to meet you."

* * *

Authors Note: Once again, sorry this chapter was so late. Not much I can say. I hope you enjoyed it! I'll see you again (hopefully) in a couple of weeks!


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 1**

"Pisses me off."

I grunted as I slammed my drink onto the table.

"What does?"

Was the innocent line the Megumin responded with, looking up from her food, a crumb still stuck on one cheek.

It was times like these where I questioned the sanity of the authority in this world.

How could it not only be legal, but socially acceptable, for one to become an adventurer at an age as low as this? They even lower the age of maturity specifically for adventurers, simply because the die so drastically quicker than those in, well, any other profession.

This fact alone was enough to annoy me, because they could easily fix the problem easily by _not letting 13 year olds apply as adventurers_. But simply because the government was lazy, and didn't want to invest in the training of real soldiers any more than they already were, they took advantage of all of the arrogant, dumb, and terrifyingly horny teenagers who couldn't wait to be adults, and threw them out to die.

It seemed I had adopted a rather cynical view on society since I had come to this world.

But my anger in that moment was not directed at the government itself, but at that bastard Mitsurugi Kyouya.

In all honesty, just imagining his face irritated me at this point.

If it had been just because he had beaten me to the goal during the trials, I would not have abandoned the good-natured appeal I had thus maintained.

Rather, it was because he had stopped me from winning while I was preparing the _final shot_ of the match, then had the audacity to continue his 'nice guy' preface.

"Pisses me off."

Even Kazuma, whom Kyouya had not directly affected, was in a foul mood. Even to the point where he would repeat my sentences, and, in some cases, my thoughts.

"And he just turns around and smiles! Is he an Idiot? Is he an actual retard!?" Kazuma suddenly stood up on his seat and started yelling.

"I think he is!"

After his rant, Kazuma was breathing heavily. As he lowered himself back into his seat, another idea occurred to me.

"No it's the opposite. He acts cool and nice, so that if we question his actions, it will be us that ends up the antagonists of the situation."

Kazuma finished his drink at the same time as me, downing it together.

He motioned for another round as he nodded, as if accepting my point.

"That pisses me off even more. He isn't an idiot, but an intelligent dick."

He said this as a waitress put down a tray in front of us.

"Hm."

There was silence for a few minutes after our mutual agreement.

"I never understood how you get drunk off that stuff." Kazuma told me, eyeing my drink.

"I don't."

I had taken a liking to the apple juice in this world. The apples in Hyrule were very bitter, and didn't make very good meals until you heated them over a fire. Here, however, the juice made from them was quite sweet, but had a certain heat, a spice to them.

"That's rather the point, isn't it?" I added.

Sometime during the silence that ensued, Megumin got up and left, perhaps not wanting to impose on Kazuma and I, giving the mood we were in.

"Link-san?" A voice said.

"Hello?" I responded, without turning around.

"Um, the King has requested your audience."

Kazuma snorted into his glass across the table from me as I turned.

The person before me was not large, and he was wearing armor of low quality, to the point where I could tell just by looking.

A fake Knight.

In other words, somebody employed to act the part, but with no actual training.

Because, of course, training cost money.

More evidence towards the point that I made earlier.

Perhaps this contributed towards the vehemence in my following sentence.

"Does the king perhaps want me to act as a second? Behind the dick Kyouya? Ah, or maybe, Kyouya himself requested my presence, in order to gloat at me!" I stood up, and the fake knight cowered a little. "Or, even better, perhaps the King wants to tell me 'well done for _almost_ winning,' so that I will be in the capital during whatever incident he is expecting, without need to pay me!"

My sudden outbreak stunned the entire guild into silence, and the fake knight wilted, and recoiled at my intimidating actions.

"I know n-not sir." He said. "I am s-simply the m-messenger."

Of course, I knew this, and the fact that I continued with my actions despite this made me feel a little bad, so I changed the object of my aggression.

"Actually, I will accept, and as I stand audience, I will tell him his problem personally!"

This was the moment that the guild erupted into cheers, and the fake knight was shocked out of his paralyzed state.

"Go at it Link!"

"Yeah, show the king of the nation who's boss!"

"I thought you were another smooth bastard like Kyouya, but you're actually pretty cool! Good Luck!"

E-excuse me?

Why did that compliment sound so insulting?

I pondered this as I left the building, following the civilian in fake knight armour.

**Part 2**

The journey to the capital was not very interesting.

In fact, there wasn't much 'journey' to speak of.

After leaving the guild bar in the most heretical manner I possibly could, I was shown to a teleport shop, a convenient location where I could be instantly transported to the capital.

I stood in a magic circle with a few other people who also seemed to be visiting the capitol. The mage who worked there said a few words, and we were all teleported to the shop's main branch.

I thanked the mage, and strode out.

The city that no stood before me was, with no other way to put it, large. I had emerged on what seemed to be a high street, with frightfully expensive-looking shops lining each side.

Actually, to be frank, that part was not too different from axel.

The impressive thing was the palace at the end of it. It was, once again, large. Probably almost twice the size of Hyrule Castle.

I was still suffering from the effects of my outbreak, so my mood was a still a little off.

That fake knight that represented everything wrong with the government caught up with me.

Wait, am I being too mean to him?

Maybe, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

"That is your destination Link-san."

"Yes, I got that, Low IQ-san."

"Oh, Link-san is very smart, as well as good-looking. Huh, wait, what did you…!?"

I strode quickly away, choosing to ignore those final words.

Despite receiving an audience with the King, my feeling of boredom was persiting, as of yet only interrupted by the morning of annoyance I had.

After about twenty minutes, I made it to the capital gates, where two people stopped me.

"State your name and business, commoner!" They demanded, crossing their swords in front of me in an annoyingly stereotypical fashion.

"I have to see the King."

Is what I responded with, boredly.

The soldiers who stopped me looked at me incredulously.

"Countless come to us daily, asking to meet the king, but none have no reason, as you do now. Go back to your business, commoner."

This rubbed me the wrong way. I looked down at my clothes, and saw that I was wearing what were essentially rags.

Huh.

I guess I did look like a commoner. I left my adventuring gear behind.

Still, implying that I have no reason! True, these people here could not know me nor my name, but, once again because I my mood, I reacted in a somewhat stupid way.

I took my knife out of my pocket, and held it with two fingers from the hilt, having the blade dangle down like a pendulum. I looked at them boredly.

And they looked at me, disbelieving.

"Look, I don't doubt your ability, but I am still confident that I can defeat you both." I dropped the knife. "Without this."

"It is a criminal offence to draw a blade in front of a royal guard." One of them said.

Oh, damn. Of course, I had never intended to use it. Rather, I simply felt like testing my luck.

Or something along those lines.

"Before we arrest you, what is your name?"

I looked up at them, and I realised that I was quite a bit shorter than them. I probably did look like a scrawny teenage delinquent to them.

I had been spending far too much time with Kazuma and Dust lately, maybe I was, in fact, turning into a delinquent.

I forced myself to reject this idea.

I am an honourable servant of the monarchy!

Well, not his one, but still!

"I offer my humblest apologies on behalf of my behaviour. I am Link, and the King has sent his messenger to my home town of Axel in order to request my audience. I have responded accordingly, and wish to be in his presence shortly."

"Are you perhaps taunting us!?"

Ah, that worked against me.

Well I guess I brought that on myself.

**Part 3**

"What!? You are _that _Link-san?!"

Low IQ-san had come to my rescue, and authenticated my entry into the castle.

"The newbie adventurer who made it to level fifteen in just a week!?"

I took out my adventurers card in mild interest, not having looked at it since I received it.

"It would seem so." I told them, after confirming this myself.

"Wow! You are going to do great things! I can tell! Don't forget me when you are rich and famous!"

Excuse me? I don't know your name.

Basically, my journey through the Palace courtyard went like this. The soldiers who so readily tried to arrest me earlier abandoned their immediately upon hearing who I was.

To be honest, I don't even know how they found out about me.

I am not complaining, obviously, as it saved my skin this time, but it seems there is even less investment in training real soldiers than I thought.

After entering the Palace, I was led to a changing room, and dressed in my adventuring gear, which it seemed they retrieved from my flat.

I was left alone for awhile in the changing room afterwards, now donning my blue and white tunic.

Experimentally, I drew the Master Sword from its sheath and examined the blade.

It seemed more or less fine now, after having recovered from where I pushed it during my final moments in hyrule.

The bluish-steel blade was no longer cracking, nor was it rusted at all. On the contrary, it was so shiny that I could see my face in it.

The brushed, reflective triforce insignia on the stark of the sword stood out from the rest, even more glossy than the rest.

Seeing this, I abandoned the sub-par broadsword that I had been using in this word so far, laying it in the corner of the room to be taken by palace staff.

I weighed the Master Sword in my hand, and gave it a probational swing, relishing the familiar weight and length of it in my hand.

I spun it once, and lowered it into its sheath again.

"Bravo!"

This speech came from Low IQ-san, who had apparently been watching me from the door.

I looked at him.

"Is it time for me to meet the king?"

He smiled.

"That it is, yes."

He led me down another corridor, and up a flight of stairs.

Eventually we made it to two large doors.

"I am not permitted to enter the main hall. I must go now." 

Low IQ-san said this as he backed away, then spun and left.

I took a breath, then pushed on the doors, one hand on each side.

I strode down the red carpet that rant the length of the room, and bowed to the king who now sat in front of me.

Despite my eruption in the adventurers' guild back in Axel, I of course meant the king no disrespect, and intended to make sure I didn't show any by accident.

"Welcome, Link-san." He said.

"It is an honor to be in your presence." I automatically responded.

"Raise your head."

I did, and examined him for the first time.

And he appeared to be an almost perfect copy of King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, the reigning king until just before my death in Hyrule.

I tried to hide my surprise.

"You came at the perfect time. I have called you here to join a team of three bodygaurds, who will be directly assigned to me until the coming harvest festival is over."

"Yes, my king."

My responses came out mechanically, from my time serving the princess during my previous term.

"You have been selected for your expert skill and calm reaction to being faced with a powerful monster, and assisting in its defeat." 

I hid my annoyance. I essentially killed it myself, after shooting out it's eyes. One more second, and the kill would have been mine.

Oh well.

"Please make your way to the briefing room. Mitsurugi Kyouya-san and Akahito Sawazaki-san are already there." 

Urgh.

Is what I thought.

"Of course."

Is what I said, leaving the room.

It seemed confronting officials and the monarchy had somewhat restored me to my former self.

I still experienced a flare of Kazuma-like irritation as I pushed open the door to the briefing room and saw Mitsurugi's smiling face.

"Oh, hello Link!"

Pisses me off.

Authors note: Hello everybody, you thought it was 'Slapsroofoffanfiction, but it was me! DIO!

Just kidding. Thank you all so much for following! I didn't really expect this many of you so fast! I don't have anything more to say at the moment though. See you in the next one!


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